Easier Ways To Find Items In Layers

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I was having trouble and wasting so much time looking for a particular embellishment or brush or layer, etc. I thought there must be easier ways, and discovered two. These are new to me, but I am sure not to everyone. But, for those who may not have tried these tricks.....

1. With the Move Tool selected, if you right click on top of the embellishment you are trying to find, a list of layers will appear. The particular item may be right on the top, or further down the list, but is usually somewhere on it. When you click on the name of the searched item it is highlighted in the Layers Palette. This process is made even easier if you have been naming your layers as you go

2. In the Layers Palette, if you click on the Drop Down Arrow on the top right and choose Panel Options, a Layer Panel Options dialog box opens. I played with different sizes of thumbnail sizes to determine the best for me....it will be different for each person. What I REALLY liked was changing the Thumbnail Contents to Layer Bounds. The thumbnail of the embellishment becomes much larger in the Layers Palette thumbnail and makes finding items so much easier.

I use PSCS5 but see that the second tip works in PSE7 as well (in fact, it may be the default setting in PSE.)

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I learned about making the layer thumbnail larger at PSW and boy has that made scrapping more enjoyable! Especially since I'm working on a 15" laptop...that's not really a very big screen. I'll have to try your other trick too. thanks.

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It's Ctrl+click on the element right there in your layout, not the name of the layer. You don't need to rename anything to use this tip, Layer 56 is just enough I'm too lazy to rename layers, shame on me, I know!

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Guest Peppi

Number 1. I knew. Number 2. with the layer bounds <- way cool!!! thanks Dot. Ariadna's tip is cool too. I usually check the 'Auto-Select' box at the top left. It select the item you are clicking on immediately but sometimes the wrong one when 2 items are overlayering.

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It's Ctrl+click on the element right there in your layout, not the name of the layer. You don't need to rename anything to use this tip, Layer 56 is just enough I'm too lazy to rename layers, shame on me, I know!

Uh, methinks that you are NOT lazy, but thank you for this fantastic tip. Wow, this is amazing. I can't tell you the hours and eyesight I have wasted searching for an item in layers.

Congratulations again on the amazing, beautiful March SG Club! I can't wait to use it!

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Number 1. I knew. Number 2. with the layer bounds <- way cool!!! thanks Dot. Ariadna's tip is cool too. I usually check the 'Auto-Select' box at the top left. It select the item you are clicking on immediately but sometimes the wrong one when 2 items are overlayering.

Thank you, Caroline! Great tip, another "I never knew that!" Hmm, I really need to start learning one new thing each day in PS again!

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I learned about making the layer thumbnail larger at PSW and boy has that made scrapping more enjoyable! Especially since I'm working on a 15" laptop...that's not really a very big screen. I'll have to try your other trick too. thanks.

How about it, Sandi? See above........... I have had it with squinting and searching! We need BIG!

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I have been trying to work with Adobe support to offer an option for larger "handles," particularly when using the pen tool to draw paths. You can zoom way in, but the handles still require fussy, careful positioning. Because I'm doing icons for my business, I'm spending a lot of time with this frustration, and the associated hand pain. Also want to be able to add some of the flyout tools TO the main toolbox, along with the existing ones. I have a 24" screen for this work, but having to click the tiny triangles OR adding keyboard shortcuts for the tools that don't have them is tiresome.

One of the reasons I LOVED Corel Photo-Paint and Draw is that you can make the tools large, not just the selection images for the layers, thumbnails, etc. Adobe is tone deaf on this topic, and it can be a killer when you're no longer 25 or 30.

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I have been trying to work with Adobe support to offer an option for larger "handles," particularly when using the pen tool to draw paths. You can zoom way in, but the handles still require fussy, careful positioning. Because I'm doing icons for my business, I'm spending a lot of time with this frustration, and the associated hand pain. Also want to be able to add some of the flyout tools TO the main toolbox, along with the existing ones. I have a 24" screen for this work, but having to click the tiny triangles OR adding keyboard shortcuts for the tools that don't have them is tiresome.

One of the reasons I LOVED Corel Photo-Paint and Draw is that you can make the tools large, not just the selection images for the layers, thumbnails, etc. Adobe is tone deaf on this topic, and it can be a killer when you're no longer 25 or 30.

Interesting that you write this, Barb. Last year I was at Photoshop World and in the classes offered by the Kelby Training guys they VERY OFTEN mentioned and mocked the little triangles for the flyouts. They would follow it up with, "Are you listening, Adobe?" and "Anyone at Adobe listening?" I had forgotten that until you mentioned it.

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Interesting that you write this, Barb. Last year I was at Photoshop World and in the classes offered by the Kelby Training guys they VERY OFTEN mentioned and mocked the little triangles for the flyouts. They would follow it up with, "Are you listening, Adobe?" and "Anyone at Adobe listening?" I had forgotten that until you mentioned it.

Nice to hear I'm not alone. I'm just astonished though, that Adobe hasn't figured out that they could overcome much of their perceived "user-unfriendliness" with small changes like this. As a software designer myself, I know that it's not THAT hard to take ordinary human capabilities into account. I shudder when I try to tutor older friends, and watch their hands shake as they try to navigate tiny triangles, length menus with multiple flyouts, etc.